1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a component for an interior of a vehicle. More particularly, the invention relates to a component for an instrument panel having a soft-feel portion and a hard-feel portion.
2. Related Technology
Components for vehicle interiors, such as instrument panels, occasionally include a soft-feel portion and a hard-feel portion adjacent to each other. The hard-feel portion is typically formed from a molded, hardened material, such as a polypropylene substrate. A portion of the substrate is coupled with a soft-feel skin having an underlying foam in order to form the soft-feel portion of the component. More specifically, the substrate and the skin are typically engaged with each other and cooperate to define a cavity, which receives the foam by an injection process.
During the current process of manufacturing the component, the substrate and the skin are positioned within an injection mold, each engaged with respective portions of the mold. The skin is secured to its mold portion, such as by a vacuum force acting through a conduit in the mold portion. The mold is then closed and the foam is injected into the cavity. The injected foam expands into every space that is available filling the cavity. Because of this nature of the foam, it may have a tendency leak out of the engagement point between the substrate and the skin. The tendency of the foam to leak from the cavity may be exacerbated by the vacuum force applied to the skin.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a component for an interior of a vehicle, and a method of assembly thereof, including a substrate and skin engaged such as to substantially prevent foam from leaking from the component.